HiWire

I got to 8 minutes. I finished The Road. Never saw the movie. I don't think The Road is the greatest novel ever written, but I also don't think these guys understand the concept of literary fiction. It's not a zombie novel. The minimalist writing style and repetition of the man and the boy's survival habits are the point of the novel. A good writer does not try to fill in every irrelevant detail, he allows the reader to use their imagination. If the Let's Read guys were looking for some kind of plot-driven adventure, they were barking up the wrong (dead) tree in McCarthy's ash-filled wasteland.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Creep – Radiohead (The Running Mates cover)

I was looking at the Hobie Mirage Outback kayak – this year's model has kick-up fins (on the foot paddle drive) that fold when you hit shallow stuff: https://www.hobie.com/kayaks/mirage-outback/# It's meant for kayak fishing but I thought it would be useful for regular, non-competitive kayaking too. I didn't even know such products existed until I searched for kayaks a few weeks ago. Here's the longer Revolution 16 with turbo fin speed test (vs. paddle):

The Look of Love – Say Lou Lou It looks better when other people dance in their underwear

Debussy - Deux Arabesques (Harpe) – Héloïse de Jenlis

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes One of the most intense war novels I've ever read. It's a gigantically thick-looking hardcover, but easily devoured regardless.

Sophie Milman (2006) In retrospect, I think her first album was the best one.

Happy Birthday!

Very nice – this is the first time I've heard of Ruike and the design and materials are impressive. What do you use to sharpen the knife and how long have you owned it?

When the Phone Stops Ringing – Eighth Wonder Too pretty for music. Patsy Kensit was in the '50s period film Absolute Beginners (David Bowie wrote a song for the movie with the same title), but apparently it wasn't very good. She left music to go into film and she seems to have had a good career there. The comments mention that Mike Chapman was also the producer for Blondie, thus the similar keyboard tune... Eighth Wonder was most famous for their singles I'm Not Scared and Cross My Heart. This song was co-written by Holly Knight (Obsession, Love Is a Battlefield) and Bernie Taupin.

I wonder if anybody has set up a Tesla Powerwall for an A/V system ("My other Tesla is my stereo") – given the price for most audiophile equipment, it's actually not that bad: https://news.energysage.com/tesla-powerwall-battery-complete-review/

What a babe. 🥰 This was before the hairspray incident (mom rock, ahoy!)... only 10 years after Dreamboat Annie, but it's taking over 30 years for the ozone layer to recover

Dreamboat Annie – Heart

Massage Detective Joe (Amazon Prime and possibly Apple TV)... couldn't find English subtitled trailers anywhere

Happy Birthday!

2019 Hyogo Hachi Highland Hillclimb (pre-event testing) with Keiichi Tsuchiya (Drift King) driving the Maou (Demon King) Honda S2000 from J's Racing (turn on English subtitles) Some tech details on the car: https://www.s2ki.com/2019/02/14/js-racing-touge-devil-king-s2000/ 2016 Kyoto Arashiyama Hillclimb (Takao Parkway)

I could blame the Marc Rebillet browsing or Firebird research...

If Moebius Made Anime | The Beautiful art of Dragon's Heaven [1988] This is awesome

Peep Show (2003)

Love Tattoo – Imelda May

The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski Really great – the final novel in the 5-part series. Oddly, I have a feeling Michael Moorcock would love reading these books... there was talk of a lawsuit years ago re: the Witcher vs. Elric, but I think Moorcock dropped it. Sapkowski uses a variety of literary devices (moving the story out of chronological order, shifting the perspective to different characters, etc.) to excellent effect and he is able to maintain a lot of the humor and charm of the series while the characters pursue their epic quest. There is also a bit of the medieval brutality and eye for detail that you read in George R.R. Martin's books. I'm not sure if Sapkowski had read them in the 90s while he was writing these books in Polish.

Sometimes you have to learn to love something less expensive... I had the same reaction to a Swatch Royal Blue Rebel (SUOS702) while on vacation. I've learned that sometimes you find something (or someone) perfect and you'll regret not acting for the rest of your life. The relationship was consummated immediately. 😍

Jean-Claude Van Damme, personal trainer I think the stay-at-home is actually helping some people.